Turn-counting adjustment tool



July 23, 1957 M. P. DI GUILIO. ET AL 2,

TURN couurmc ADJUSTMENT TOOL Filed Aug. 5, 1953 INVENTORS MANUEL F? DiGUlLlO JOHN H. ROGERS ATTORN EYS TURN -COUN-TING ADJUSTMENT TOOL Manuel P. Di' Guilio and John H.1Rogers, Havel-hill, Mass.

Application :August 5, 1953, Serial No. 312,530

5 Claims. (Cl. 235-103) This :invention relates to tools for (setting-rotationally United States Patent 2,800,281 'iPatented July .23, 1 957 i2 screw. The :lead screw 24 is journalled at the shaft end to fan inwardly extending boss .28, :conveniently formed vzasraniextension to'the shaft-1'0, *and is necked down at ..its sother :end :to form a .rotor :30 extending through a central :bore .32 :in .the cap .22.

. T2611, :and:calibrated in divisions representing the number rmovablezadjustment"controls, such as :the needle-valves of carburetors, :zthe tuning controls 'oftelectronic equipment and the sights of a gun. The setting of such adjustments ,generally :involves trial and error positioning of the adjustment control through increments of rotation in both directions until the set position is reached, and -.a Jdeterminationof the ,netrotation ,tlufin g any setting of .the adjustment. control requires accurate measurement of -.-each increment .and arithmetical accumulation :of the "several increments.

llThe. presentinvention :provides an :adjusting 1 tool of simple riantlreompact construction :for setting ;rotat ionally movable .adjustment controls wliile measuring and .ac-

cumulating the increments of rotation to indicate the direction and amount of the net rotation of the control during any adjustment.

The invention may be embodied in a variety of hand tools commonly used to engage and turn rotationally movable adjustment controls, there being provided a shaft terminating at one end in construction for engaging such controls for rotation coaxial with the shaft, and shaft holding structure secured to the other end of the shaft. Turn counting mechanism operated by the rotation of a rotor is mounted within the shaft holding structure, with the rotor axially aligned with the shaft, and a tenable member that may be held stationary when the shaft and shaft holding structure are rotated, is secured to the rotor. In preferred embodiments the shaft holding structure consists in a handle for the tool, and the tenable member consists of a thimble-shaped cup which, with the handle held between the thumb and middle finger, may be held'stationary by insertion of the index finger. Thus, during any adjustment made by the tool of this invention, the turn counting mechanism in the handle is rotated while the rotor is held stationary, and the net rotation is automatically recorded.

This invention will best be understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, reference being made to the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a screwdriver embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a view taken at section 2-2 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 3 is a view taken at 3-3 of Fig. l.

The screwdriver embodying the invention and shown in the drawings consists in generalof a shaft 10 terminating at one end in a screwdriver blade 12, a handle 14 secured to the other end of the shaft, turn counting mechanism 16 mounted in the handle, and a tenable member 18 for operating the turn counting mechanism axially aligned with the shaft and situated at the end of the handle away from the shaft.

The handle 14 is in the form of the hollow cylinder, closed at the shaft end by a plug 20 in which the end of the shaft is firmly embedded, and closed at the other end by a cap 22. The turn counting mechanism 16 consists of a lead screw 24 mounted axially within the handle 14, and an index member 26 threaded to the lead of turns made by the lead screw 24. The window. is conxveniently provided :by forming the handle of a transrparent plasticscoated with an opaque material except. at the window.

:Thertenable member-18 consists of a thimble-shaped gcup r44 rcapping the vrotor.30 and secured thereto by a 'spin 46, and provides a'means forholding the lead screw 24 stationary when the screw-driver is rotated. :Such rrotation',-'it-willbe .seen, istransmitted to the index member 26 .through the :guide 36 to which it is keyed and :causes :theindex :member to travel along the lead =screw rby an: amount corresponding to tthe :direction and de- .gree-ohrotation of the 'screwidriver. "The 180316011 the zguideris 'preferably :calibrated with.a central origin, or zero position, and graduated on both sides thereof. Thus, when the mark 26a on the index member is initially set at zero, as by rotation of the tenable member 18, the net rotation and direction thereof during any adjustment may readily be read directly from the scale.

In making such adjustments by the preferred embodiment described above, the handle 14 may easily be grasped between the thumb and middle finger, while the index finger is inserted in the cup of the tenable member 18 to hold it stationary during the adjustment. This has been found to be a particularly natural manual position for work of this type, and is not in the least tiring to the operator.

Although this invention has been described in detail with reference to one preferred embodiment, it will be understood that modifications of the construction may be made without departing from the scope of the inven tion.

It is contemplated, for instance, that the tenable member 18, may be formed in other shapes adapted for convenient grasping, and that the turn counting mechanism 16 may be modified, for instance, by providing the handle with a longitudinal slot and forming the index member 26 with a pointer radially extending through the slot, to register with a scale situated along the slot and to secure the index member for rotation with the handle. It will be also apparent that this invention may be applied to tools other than screw drivers, for instance socket wrenches, by providing appropriate adjustment control engaging means in place of the screw driver blade 12.

Having thus disclosed our invention and described in detail preferred embodiments thereof, we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a turn counting adjusting device which includes a shaft terminating at one end in means for engaging an adjustment control for rotation on an axis coaxial with the shaft and a handle secured to the other end of the shaft, the improvement comprising turn counting means including a rotor extending coaxially with the shaft out wardly from the handle and means movable by said rotor indicating relative rotation of the rotor with respect to the handle, and a thimble shaped cup secured at its apex to the end of the rotor, whereby the rotor may be held stationary while the handle is turned and its rotation is indicated.

2. A turn counting adjusting device comprising a shaft terminating at one end in means for engaging an adjustment control for rotation on an axis coaxial with the shaft, a handle secured to the other end of the shaft, a lead screw mounted within the handle in axial alignment with the shaft and terminating in a rotor extending outwardly from the handle, a thimble-shaped cup secured at its apex to the end of the rotor, a scale on the handle, and an index member threaded to the lead screw mounted within the handle for rotation therewith and registering on said scale, whereby turn counting is provided when the handle is turned while the rotor is held against rotation by engagement of the thirnble-shaped cup.

3. A turn counting adjusting tool comprising a shaft terminating at one end in means for engaging an adjustment control for rotation on an axis coaxial with the shaft, a handle secured to the other end of the shaft, a lead screw mounted within the handle in axial alignment with the shaft, said lead screw terminating in an external rotor extending outwardly from the handle whereby said rotor may be held stationary when said shaft and handle are rotated, a scale on the handle indicating positions axial of the lead screw, and an index member threaded to the lead screw mounted within the handle for rotation therewith and registering against said scale, whereby turn counting is provided when the handle is turned while the lead screw is held stationary by engagement of said rotor.

4. A turn counting adjusting tool comprising a shaft terminating in means for engaging an adjustment control for rotation on an axis coaxial with the shaft, a handle connecting with said shaft capable of being grasped to rotate said shaft, and turn counting means including a rotor coaxial with said shaft and having an external portion whereby said rotor may be held against rotation when said shaft and handle are rotated and means movable by said rotor indicating relative rotation of the rotor with respect to the handle and shaft, whereby turn counting is provided when the handle is turned while the rotor is held stationary.

5. A turn counting adjusting tool comprising a shaft terminating in means for engaging an adjustment control for rotation on an axis coaxial with the shaft, a handle connecting with said shaft capable of being grasped to rotate said shaft, and turn counting means including a rotor coaxial with said shaft having an external portion whereby said rotor may be held against rotation when said shaft and handle are rotated, and means threaded to said rotor and axially movable with respect thereto indicating relative rotation of the rotor with respect to the handle and shaft, whereby turn counting is provided when the handle is turned while the rotor is held stationary.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 180,949 Smith Aug. 8, 1876 430,443 Slayton et a1 June 17, 1890 435,012 Calkins Aug. 26, 1890 802,077 Hobbs Oct. 17, 1905 997,648 Cavanagh et al. July 11, 1911 1,085,755 Pearson Feb. 3, 1914 2,223,612 Grundlehner Dec. 3, 1940 

